


Fifth Time's The Charm

by SilveryxDark



Category: Alice Nine
Genre: 4 + 1, 5 Times, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Nao is a saint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-30
Updated: 2014-11-30
Packaged: 2018-02-27 13:43:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2695142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilveryxDark/pseuds/SilveryxDark
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Or, four times Saga’s attempts to flirt with Tora, or otherwise make his interest known, failed completely, and one time it didn’t.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fifth Time's The Charm

**Author's Note:**

> Sooo, here's my first actual fanfic in a month! I've been doing the NaNoWriMo challenge (which I did win!) and so, have something light and fluffy and cute to celebrate! The idea actually came to me halfway through writing my NaNo, and I finally completed this fic today C: Hopefully, with the daily writing, I'll be able to come up with more and better stories soon! 
> 
> Warnings for swearing!
> 
> As always, thank you to all my readers.

**I**  
  
Tora was, by anyone's standards, an incredibly attractive man. Or by Saga's standards, anyway, and Tora's own fans'. And if the mention of a singular ex boyfriend was anything to go by, Saga was totally in luck.  
  
Seriously, it wasn't often that he met someone so incredibly hot, so friendly and nice, _and_ similarly interested in men.  
  
Except that problems that Saga faced included the fact that Tora was his good friend _and_ his bandmate, and if he fucked it all up, it wasn’t just his feelings that would get hurt. The whole band would be implicated, and he really, really didn’t want that to happen. But then again they were adults, and could probably take care of things. And Saga had already entertained one too many fantasies of Tora for him not to take any action.  
  
And so, Saga made up his mind to ask Tora during a break in practice. Saga mustered up all the courage he had and approached Tora, before he went off to smoke. "Hey, Torashii! Do you want to go for drinks after this?"  
  
Tora looked down at him, smiling. "Yeah, sure! Have you asked the others yet?"  
  
Fuck. "Uh, well, no..."  
  
And of course, Nao had to overhear and pipe up, "Drinking? Let's go together! I know of this completely awesome place that just opened!"  
  
"Oh, alright, cool! Shou, Hiroto, you guys coming along?" Tora asked, looking at the two.  
  
"Okay!" they both enthused, and Saga controlled the urge to bang his head against the wall.  
  
 **II**  
  
In hindsight, maybe asking Tora out for drinks wasn’t the best course of action. Saga often asked the rest of the band out for drinks, too, although the first person he tended to ask was Nao, who then easily gathered everyone else.  
  
That, or Tora was subtly telling Saga that he wasn’t interested in going out with him. Except, well, Tora didn’t really do _subtle_ , did he? Tora was a very nice guy, but he was also a very honest, straightforward guy, and if he wasn’t interested, he would have just said so.  
  
So yeah, Saga had just picked a bad way to ask him out. Probably.  
  
Maybe a more direct approach would work? This was a perfect time, too, seeing as Tora was currently recording a guitar track, _and_ for a song he composed. Saga genuinely believed that the song was very good, and when Tora came out of the recording booth, he told him exactly that.  
  
Tora’s smile was shy and self deprecating, and he shook his head. “Ah… thank you. Well, we all contributed to the song, but… I’m not sure that my guitar playing is that good. Could be better, don’t you think?”  
  
“Well, we _all_ could be better,” Saga pointed out, “but that doesn’t mean you’re bad!”  
  
And somehow, instead of managing to compliment Tora and sweep him off his feet, they began talking about the songs and guitars and the album, until Tora had to go back in and record his next song.  
  
Well, then.  
  
Saga pondered that for a moment. On one hand, it wasn’t like it was _bad_. They were friendly, as always, and might’ve grown a bit closer discussing work. On the other hand, Saga still hadn’t achieved his goal of asking Tora out.  
  
Well, there was going to be a next time.  
  
 **III**  
  
The next time Saga got the opportunity to talk to Tora alone, in private, was perhaps not the best possible time to ask him out.  
  
Although, Saga had to admit, maybe things were getting better. Or he could very well be desperate and delusional, but hey, it wasn’t like he’d been rejected completely, right?  
  
He went over to Tora’s flat, after Tora bought the latest Winning Eleven game. Saga, of course, jumped at the chance to play his favourite game with his favourite person, especially at Tora’s request.  
  
“Hey, let’s make it a competition,” Saga suggested after a couple of rounds, along with a can of beer giving him liquid courage. “The one with most wins at the end of the night can ask the other to do anything they want.”  
  
Tora laughed. “Anything? You’re on, then!”  
  
Saga was confident, because he knew he was good. He’d played this tons of times, anyway, though Tora was very good as well. But he’d won the previous match, and the alcohol made him feel even more confident about winning. He was convinced he had this in the bag.  
  
Except that five hours later, at four in the morning, and thoroughly exhausted from staring at the screen for so long, thumbs aching from the constant button mashing, Saga lost.  
  
Saga. Had. _Lost_.  
  
See, he didn’t really mind losing, generally. He got a little bit stroppy, sure, but he knew it was just a game, and didn’t really care much afterwards. But this? He’d suggested the competition, sure that he would win, and get to ask Tora out at last. Instead, he’d lost by a narrow margin.  
  
“Tora, you’re mean!” Saga whined, flopping on the floor.  
  
“Sorry, I’m just too good, I guess,” Tora smirked. “Hmm, I wonder what I should get you to do for me?”  
  
Saga blinked slowly, looking at Tora. Huh. Maybe losing wasn’t so bad, if Tora was going to ask him to do something potentially romantic and -  
  
“You owe me drinks the next time we go to the bar,” Tora decided.  
  
Damn it. “Fine, fine,” Saga said, throwing a hand over his eyes, to hide both his disappointment and the fact that he was exhausted beyond belief. “You win. Next time, I swear...”  
  
“Sure. And hey, get up, the floor’s a bad place to sleep,” Tora said, lightly throwing his cushion onto Saga’s chest.  
  
“Oh, are you going to offer me your bed?” Saga blurted out, and was immediately grateful for the dim lighting, because he felt a blush creep up his neck.  
  
Tora just laughed, though, “Yeah, and I can sleep on the couch, it’s fine!”  
  
“You’re too nice, Tora,” Saga sighed, and couldn’t help but smile at him. climbing up the couch and settling in. “Nah, it’s fine, I’ll get the couch. You go sleep in your bed.”  
  
Maybe that wasn’t quite so bad after all, and having Tora smile and wish him a good night’s rest and sweet dreams was very, very nice indeed.  
  
 **IV**  
  
Saga thought it was about time to go for a much more direct method. Screw dumb game contests and compliments, he was going to do what he'd always been good at on stage.  
  
Fanservice. It'd always been a spot of fun, between him, Shou and Hiroto. Tora had only started joining in a little bit once in a while, though Saga would always take joy in the fact that Tora had kissed his cheek lightly, the first time he ever properly initiated fanservice.  
  
This time, he pranced around on stage like he always did, arching his back and throwing dirty looks to the audience, and licking his bass like - well. He'd prefer not to think too much about that while he was still on stage. But yes. He was definitely thinking of Tora as he mouthed the neck of his bass guitar.  
  
And then later, he gave Tora the best come-hither look he could muster. He wasn't sure the fans saw it, but Tora only chuckled. Even more determined, Saga walked over and delivered a kiss to his lips, relishing his expression of surprise. He turned away quickly, to screams of adoration, and continued to play his bass. The rest of the fanservice he performed was as per usual - a cheek kiss here with Shou, a back-to-back bit there with Hiroto… What he did with Tora was anything but.  
  
Yet, after the live, there was... nothing. Tora said absolutely nothing about the kiss, and his behaviour was exactly the same as it was after every live - exhausted but still friendly, thanking the staff and chatting to the rest of the band.  
  
"Man, Saga, you were on fire tonight!" Hiroto exclaimed. "Like, you were extra sexy or something."  
  
Still, judging from the way everyone smiled and agreed, including Tora, it apparently hadn't meant much. To Tora, anyway. Saga ran his fingers through his sweat-damp hair and could only say,  "Thanks. You know me, I love the fans!"  
  
God, he thought, he was really, really bad at this whole flirting lark.  
  
 **V**  
  
“Nao, do you think I’m ugly?” Saga whined, downing another beer.  
  
Nao awkwardly patted his shoulder. “No, you’re not. Anyone with eyes can see that. Not to mention that your thousands of screaming fans would heartily agree with me.”  
  
“Do you think _Tora_ thinks I’m ugly?” Saga pressed.  
  
Nao, usually funny and genial, looked pained. “Oh, God, of course it’s about him again. No, I’m sure he doesn’t.”  
  
“Do you think he doesn’t like guys after all, and I was sorely mistaken?”  
  
“No, he confirmed it himself the other day when we were all drinking, remember?”  
  
“Are my attempts at getting him to notice me really that bad?”  
  
Silence.  
  
“ _Nao_.”  
  
“...Yeah.”  
  
Saga sat up immediately, glaring at Nao. “I totally thought through each one of them! I can’t be that bad!”  
  
“Hey, you asked for my opinion, and I’m just giving you the truth. Let’s run them through, shall we? First, you asked him out for drinks which… we always do, so nothing even remotely romantic about that. I’d be surprised if he did catch on,” Nao pointed out.  
  
Saga pouted. He had a very good pout. “Okay, but the second time, I was trying to compliment him!”  
  
“About his _music_. And you always end up talking about work anyway. If you’d gone ahead and told him how pretty you think his eyes are or something, maybe he’d have responded more favourably,” Nao replied.  
  
Saga sighed. “Okay. The game contest thing _was_ pretty bad. I mean, I lost miserably. I would definitely have asked him out if I won… But what about when I kissed him on stage?”  
  
Nao groaned. “Saga, you do that all the time! Not to him, I mean, but to everyone. It’s not exactly a big surprise. Now, if you’d kissed only him throughout the show, that’d really be surprising.”  
  
“I’m an idiot,” Saga whined, banging his head down on the table with a loud ‘thud’. “At this rate I’ll never get to ask Tora out, and -”  
  
“Saga -”  
  
“Why the hell am I in love with that dumbass anyway? I don’t even dare to ask him out properly, and he can’t see I’m practically throwing myself -”  
  
“Saga, um -”  
  
“- at him! I’m in love with that dumb tiger and I don’t know what to do about it!”  
  
“Hi, Saga,” a very familiar voice rumbled.  
  
Saga looked up.  
  
Oh.  
  
Fuck.  
  
Sitting across the table was Tora himself, his cheeks looking faintly pink, either from embarrassment at Saga’s little rant, or the red lighting in the bar. Probably both. He seemed surprised, which was… Well, not too bad, actually. Tora could be running away, but he was just sitting down and smiling a bit at him.  
  
Of course, seeing as Tora was such a nice guy, he was probably about to let Saga down gently, instead of telling him that -  
  
“I like you, too,” Tora said, meeting his gaze and scratching a little at his ear.  
  
Saga blinked. “You like me too?”  
  
“Yes, that’s what I said,” Tora replied, smiling in a decidedly amused way. “I didn’t know you liked me at all...”  
  
“You’re both idiots,” Nao sighed, and Saga looked over sheepishly at him, remembering that he was still there. He definitely owed him a round of drinks, a good meal, and at least a couple days’ worth of Starbucks coffee. “Before you ask, no, I didn’t really set this up, though, during practice, I guess I might have overheard Tora saying he was going to drink here with some other friends of his.”  
  
“Oh my God, I love you,” Saga muttered, and paused as both Nao and Tora turned to look at him. “I meant it like, in a brotherly way! I, uh, I like Tora. You know.”  
  
“Well, I’ll leave you guys to it then. You owe me, Saga,” Nao grinned, slipping off the chair. “You can pay for my drinks, tomorrow’s lunch, and my coffee for the next few days!”  
  
Saga watched as Nao left, and then turned back to Tora, feeling blood rush up his neck and towards his face. “Um. So. Maybe I should’ve made it clear from the start?”  
  
Tora’s answering smile was unexpectedly shy. “Yeah… same here. But you said you were… throwing yourself at me? Really?”  
  
“Yeah! I was trying to ask you out, then you asked Nao and everyone else for drinks, and then I tried complimenting you, but we talked about work instead, and I wanted to beat you at the game so I could ask you out again, and then I kissed you at the live!” Saga listed, pouting again.  
  
Tora blinked slowly at him, and Saga could see comprehension dawning in his extremely pretty eyes. Nao was right, he probably should have said something about them. “Okay, well… I kinda wanted to ask you out when I won the game, but then I chickened out ‘cause I thought you’d turn me down and that it’d be unfair if you didn’t really want to go with me but I’d made you do so and… I thought you were kissing me just because it’s what you do on stage. Not that that’s… bad. I’d definitely like it if we kissed more. On stage or otherwise.”  
  
Saga’s brain felt like it was shorting out because _oh my God Tora liked him!_ But at the same time, he was wondering how the hell he managed to act so shamelessly flirtatious and sexy while performing and yet become completely tongue-tied and as shy as a teenager in the first throes of a schoolgirl crush.  
  
Meanwhile, Tora who didn’t act ultra sexy on stage on purpose like him, was definitely playing up the hot factor at the moment, smirking at him. That was probably a good thing, too, because then all the fangirls would flock to Tora and Saga would be very jealous indeed.  
  
“So can I kiss you?” Saga blurted out.  
  
“Thought you’d never ask,” Tora replied, and, finally, leaned forward and closed the distance between them.  
  
  



End file.
